


burning gold

by jeien



Series: Oofuri AbeMiha Ship Week 2016 [4]
Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: Doppelganger, Dreams, Intervention, M/M, Oofuri AbeMiha Week 2016, Pre-Relationship, Realization
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-13 23:30:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7142816
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeien/pseuds/jeien
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Abe saw the sun, bright like burning gold, and the bullets of words he had readied turned to ash in his mouth. But no, he realized, it wasn’t the sun. It was Mihashi, whose hair wasn’t actually burning gold, but exuded radiance and heat all the same. Mihashi, who wore the coyest smile he’d ever seen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	burning gold

**Author's Note:**

> This was actually an idea I had for a long time, but I always struggled with the execution. I supposed it's as good as it's gonna get from me, so...
> 
> For AbeMiha Day 4: Dreams!

The first thing Abe felt was the shocking coldness of water swallowing his legs. His eyes flew open and he looked down—still in his sleeping clothes, he stood awkwardly in the middle of a small pond while trains of koi fish swam around him curiously. _What the hell’s going on?_ He waddled to the closest edge, making the fish leap and flail frantically around the new movement, and pushed himself out of the water and onto grass.

“Takaya,” a voice called. Abe looked rather stupid with the way his head whipped around him to find the source. His eyes landed on a folding screen in the near distance, perched up on a wooden porch of a traditional Japanese estate. A shadow was cast onto the thin paper—a form that seemed so familiar, yet he just couldn’t place it. The voice, airy like the wind and just as mischievous, spoke once more. “Takaya, won’t you come here?”

He hesitated at first, but took slow steps around the pond and towards the porch. His eyes stole glances from each side: from what he could gather, he was in a lush and enclosed miniature garden. He couldn’t even see the sky, much less what lay beyond the walls of trees, bushes, and flora. His grass-muffled footfalls halted in front of the steps leading up to the folding screen as a thought struck him. _Was I kidnapped?_    

A giggle that resembled small metal chimes beating against one another other rang out. “You’re safe, Takaya. Although, I do wonder why you’re here. Maybe this is your mind’s way of helping you sort things out?”

“The hell are you talking about?” Abe snapped. He’s half-soaked through and without a clue to where he is. He was in no mood for games. “Talk like a normal person and tell me what’s going on.”

“You’re quick to lash out, but you shouldn’t be so crude, you know? I’m sure that tongue of yours is better suited for other things.” The voice sighed dreamily and said, “I’m quivering just from thinking about all the possibilities.”  

“That’s it!” He stormed up the steps and slammed the screen into its folded state, ready to grab whoever was on the other side by the collar and—

Abe saw the sun, bright like burning gold, and the bullets of words he had readied turned to ash in his mouth. But no, he realized, it wasn’t the sun. It was Mihashi, whose hair wasn’t actually burning gold, but exuded radiance and heat all the same. Mihashi, who wore the coyest smile he’d ever seen.

“Mi…hashi?”

“Not exactly,” said not-Mihashi, with no stutter. “Would Mihashi ever actually act like this? Say all those things to you?” _Not in anyone’s lifetime_ , Abe almost said. But it could happen. With a lot of work. And maybe some divine intervention. Not-Mihashi seemed to pick up on his thoughts and laughed again, the sound echoing throughout the entire miniature garden. “No, the Mihashi right now wouldn’t do any of these things. But this Mihashi does.”

Abe took a slow breath in, trying to calm himself. “And why is that?”

“Because it’s your dream.”

“What?” He added, “You’re not making any sense.”

“This place is your dream. How else could any of this happen—and while you’re in your bed clothes, no less! I am how I am because of you,” Not-Mihashi said as easily as one would state a true fact. Dread started to crawl up Abe’s back when not-Mihashi continued. “This Mihashi is the Mihashi you want. Don’t you remember what you said earlier?”

_Dammit, sometimes I just wish you could take a page from Haruna’s book and be a little more put together! I’m trying my best here, but your attitude’s really getting old now!_

“…”

“Remember now?” Not-Mihashi asked. He swung his legs over the edge of the porch and swung them back and forth childishly. “Ah, now you’re guilty. I kind of understand—Haruna has that underlying sexual presence about him so you’re trying to make me more like, say, a less annoying version of your brother—”

“Just shut up!” Abe yelled. He feels wretched. He hadn’t meant any of the words he shot at Mihashi during practice. He had only been frustrated—every time they stumbled one step forward in their relationship as a functioning battery, they seemed to fall two steps back. Abe had tried everything to convey his feelings to Mihashi when it comes to his skill as a pitcher. He had tried everything to show Mihashi his decency as a person. Still, only nothing. “I don’t want him like this.”

“Then just tell me how you’d like this Mihashi to be,” not-Mihashi said. “I could be like Tajima. Or maybe reliable like Hanai. Or maybe I should stop using people you know as a reference—but you’ll need to tell me the traits, okay?”

“I want him as he is,” Abe said. “The jittery, nervous, self-deprecating wreck. I want that.”

“Because of the power trip?” not-Mihashi asked. “The savior complex that comes with it? He’s uncannily obedient to you.”

“I want him because that’s who he is!” If Mihashi was going to change, if their relationship was going to change, Abe wanted it to be one-hundred percent of Mihashi’s effort. He didn’t want him to just be a tool, a mold of his own ideal. He wanted Mihashi’s own best. “He’s a person too, you know. It’s not right for me to change him into what I want him to be. I know that.”

“You know that from baseball,” not-Mihashi corrected. “But does your heart agree?”  

Abe didn’t get a chance to answer. He opened his eyes and saw the sun, filtering through from his window. He reached under the covers and felt his pants, relieved that they were dry. He rolled out of bed and, in the darkness of the pre-dawn morning, went about his usual routine. He didn’t think about the dream until he went past the threshold of the baseball field, where he saw Mihashi being dragged off by Tajima to do warm-up stretches.

 _Mihashi doesn’t need to be anyone but himself_ , Abe thought as he made his way towards them, with the intention to apologize. _As a pitcher and as a man, that’s the Mihashi I want_.  


End file.
